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Wednesday, June 14, 2017

The Curious Classroom: Day One

For the past 9 days I have wandered around the Midwest. From porch time in a little town in Nebraska, to hiking in the Black Hills of South Dakota. It's been a fantastic way to start the summer.

While sitting on the porch in Nebraska, I had the chance to read this gem: (Also a fantastic way to start the summer)

Have you read it? Just go do that now if you haven't. It was confirming and encouraging and empowering. After I read it, I left feeling like I could make some easy changes to what I'm doing to encourage more curiosity in my classroom. I'll be writing more about that in the upcoming days.

But as I was hiking with my family through South Dakota, my 12 year old jumped onto an idea with me. It was at Jewel Cave Monument, as we were hiking through the canyon that I had an idea. And Friends, I could use your help.

Big A (the 12 year old) and I were fascinated by the geology of the state of South Dakota. Which lead to me thinking about the geology in all the states. Big A and I are wondering if we can collect state rocks from all 50 states.

I teach a unit on the United States, and incorporating some geology into this unit would be an opportunity to authentically model something that I'm curious and excited about.

Big A loves to collect and organize and synthesize information. It could come in handy at school, but he's really just excited about the prospect of connecting with teachers and their state rocks. :) We've had great conversations about what this blog post should look like.

So, if you are willing to help us by sending rocks from your state and a fact or two, would you either DM me on Twitter? Or you can leave an email in the comments, and I will get in touch with you. We would be so thankful for the help.

There are no expectations on number/size of rocks. Just something that we can share and study. We are also excited to hear about your perspective and thoughts on the geology of your state.